Calendar

Traditionally, arts groups schedule their seasons from fall till spring, so in the next few weeks Central Florida's performing-arts organizations kick into high gear . Some have already started their fall seasons: UCF Conservatory Theatre is showing "Splash" through Sunday, Winter Park Playhouse's Fred Astaire tribute, "Let's Face the Music," plays through Sept. 19. You can get more details on upcoming productions in our season preview listings, which start on Page XX . But here's a snapshot of opening dates for some of our local arts institutions: • SEPT.

Check out festivals and events in October across the state. View events this coming weekend, or view the whole month's offerings by region below: This list is organized by region. Central Florida (including Orlando, Kissimmee, Daytona Beach, Sanford, the Space Coast, Lakeland/Polk and Lake County) Sept. 19 - Nov. 1 (select nights): Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, Orlando. In its 24th year, the event is considered one of the world's largest, most elaborate Halloween celebrations.

•I am ticked off at whomever found my digital camera. My ID was clearly glued on. It's not so much the camera as the sentimental meaning which I will never be able to replace. •I'm ticked off at how bad our employer treats the employees. •I'm ticked off that my 2011 calendar does not recognize Pearl Harbor Day. •I'm ticked off that local attractions don't realize that their attendance is down because ticket prices are too high. •Anyone who supports drilling off our coast should have to move to Texas.

TAVARES - As soon as he spied them at the water's edge, Jeffrey White cut the skiff's motor to an idle. White, 67, retired from the Kennedy Space Center and part of a volunteer crew plucking trash from the St. Johns River, reached for his camera and started firing away at the 8-foot alligator and the blue heron eyeing one another. "I'm not a very good photographer," he said. "But I take a lot of pictures. " Nature lovers in Lake County might disagree with White's self-assessment of his photography skills as they selected his candid image of the gator gazing hungrily at the heron for inclusion in the 2012 Adopt-a-Lake calendar.

If you're facing the hurly-burly of the holiday retail season with less than hearty cheer, here's some solace. The city of Orlando has a nice little gift for you, if you can pick it up pretty soon. It's the Orlando Historic Preservation Board Calendar for 2008, featuring images of the Lake Lawsona Historic District. The city's historic-preservation officer, Richard Forbes, said Wednesday that copies of the calendar are available at City Hall, where they're going fast, and at Harry P. Leu Gardens and the Orange County Regional History Center.

I loved Friday's new Calendar cover. From there, it was all downhill. Maybe you could enclose one of those full-page magnifying glasses for those of us on the down side of 50. I personally wear trifocal blended lenses, although I never had to wear glasses at all until I was 50. How old are your decision-makers? Squintingly yours, Carol Gauer Leesburg

Q.What is happening with Orange County's new 1996-97 school year calendar and teachers' concerns that it creates too little time between school years for some year-round students?A.The teachers union and school district negotiators plan to meet again this month to deal with teachers' concerns, said Cliff McInturff, president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association.In January, the union hopes to ratify a new calendar that gives teachers and students more time between the end of the old and the start of the new year, McInturff said.

SANFORD'S PAST. A calendar chronicling historic Sanford in picture and prose is hot off the presses and available at the Greater Sanford Chamber of Commerce for $5. Proceeds from the calendars, complete with linotype reproductions, important dates and historic tidbits, go to the July 4th fireworks fund. A peek through the pages reveals that the St. Johns River was advertised as the ''Nile of America'' during the 19th century because it flows north to the sea, like the Nile. Also noted: The only legal hanging in Seminole County took place behind the Hester-Shepard building in 1923.

TAVARES - Families with kids in Lake schools can finalize their summer plans now that School Board members have OK'd a calendar for the 2014-15 school year. The decision had been delayed while waiting for state officials to finalize testing dates. Not willing to wait longer, the district last month asked people to vote for one of two options in an online straw poll. Both options called for Aug. 18 as the first day of school but differed in other ways. School Board members approved the 180-day student calendar that a majority of those who voted preferred.

TAVARES - Balloting is underway in an online straw poll between two possible calendars for the 2014-15 school year, Lake district officials announced after giving up on the state to first release the testing calendar. Officials decided to move forward with pinning down the district calendar, which will allow parents and employees to finalize their own vacation plans. Both options call for starting school on Aug. 18 but have other differences. •Option one calls for school ending on June 4 and has more days off around Thanksgiving and the winter holidays and spring break from March 30-April 3. •Option two calls for June 2 as the last day of school and has fewer days off around Thanksgiving and the winter holidays and spring break from March 23-27.

TAVARES - It's election time again - but not for political candidates. Instead, voting will be held in an issue that is important to many in Lake County - the calendar for the 2013-14 school year. Parents, students, school-district employees and anyone else can weigh in one two options in the nonbinding online poll. But take note: School Board members will have the final say. They're expected to take up the matter on Jan. 14. There are two options, with both calling for school to begin Aug. 19 and end June 6. The twist is that one option calls for two more days off around Thanksgiving but two fewer during the winter break.

CLERMONT - Just in time for the new year, students at Sawgrass Bay Elementary put on their creative hats for a 2013 calendar honoring veterans. The project was part of the Cornerstone Salutes! program initiated by Cornerstone Hospice and Palliative Care to honor veterans. Artwork by fifth-grader Nayla Delgado, above with art and music teacher Dana Duke, graces the cover. She and other students, below left, unveiled he calendar during a ceremony last week. Cornerstone staffers picked a pair of art-contest winners from each grade, plus the cover.